The 69th year of the prestigious Unilever Research Prizes annual event took place yesterday. The Unilever Research & Development team at the company’s Global Foods Innovation Centre in Wageningen welcomed 14 of the brightest minds in the Netherlands for a day of celebration. This included the awards ceremony – the highlight of the day – and keynote addresses by two guest speakers who spoke about AI transformation in food innovation.
Each exceptional Master of Science student was nominated by their university for their remarkable work. Their highly impressive research findings make a solid contribution to solving one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is one of the selection criteria for nomination. Guests were given the opportunity to explore each of the award winner’s work up close via a special poster presentation. Two of the award winners presented their research findings during the awards ceremony.
This year’s winning theses centered on a range of topics, including: the clean energy transition; advancing cancer treatment; mitigating climate change; biodiversity protection; achieving more diversity in STEM careers; making childbirth safer and more equitable; enhancing food security; combatting loneliness; overcoming vaccine hesitancy; improving occupational health in an ageing workforce, breaking the disability-poverty cycle in poorer countries and the dynamics of the European football transfer market.
Each student who received the Unilever Research Prize 2025 yesterday was awarded a cheque for €2,500 and a special piece of artwork. The awards ceremony was hosted by Florian Viton, Head of Science & Technology for the Foods business group, Unilever R&D and also site leader for Hive.
“The Unilever Research Prizes event holds an important place in Unilever’s history as it was established all the way back in 1956. It’s very inspiring to see the exceptional level of talent and ability coming through from our universities in the Netherlands every year. Today is about celebrating that and showing our appreciation.” he said.
Keynote addresses
Two guest speakers delved into the fast-developing world of AI, highlighting its potential to transform science and technology in different ways.
Miriam Ueberall, an R&D and Food Tech leader who helps bring breakthrough technologies into real-world food and agriculture systems, spoke first. She gave a highly engaging presentation titled “Beyond ChatGPT: the AI shift that will redefine R&D.” Miriam highlighted the vital need for organisations to get the fundamentals right in order to unlock AI’s full potential in food innovation. She described how technology only accounts for a small part of AI transformation, the rest is down to having the right leadership, culture and collaboration in place.
Boudewijn Hollebrands, an Analytical Chemist who is part of the Unilever R&D team based at Hive, spoke next. In his presentation, titled: “Decoding taste: How Chemistry and AI Unlock the flavour profile of food”, he described how he and his team are using advanced analytical chemistry and AI modelling to decode protein structures and craft sustainable and healthier foods that taste better, naturally. Exploring the peptide landscape in foods forms a big part of this work.
Photos
Find all photos of the event here!